4) The Hybrid and The Dragon (or, How Clara Got Her Wings)
by The Hummingbird Tales
Summary: The Doctor and Clara get an unexpected call from an old friend who needs help, and discover more than they bargained for when they head over to him: a device raining down fumes, a dedicated army race and another old friend... named Pride... It's going to be a long day... (Must be read AFTER The Dragons Descend. Contains mild gore. Whouffaldi. reviews please!)
1. Chapter 1 - 'Space India'

Chapter 1

"Were are we going?" Clara asked, ecstatically; glad to be back in the TARDIS. _Home at last!_

"Who knows?" The Doctor smiled, leaning on the console, nonchalantly, his arms folded, "Wherever _you_ want to go, I suppose…"

"Oh I don't want to go anywhere in particular, as long as I'm… with you…" Clara blushed, moseying over to him and looping her arms around his waist, resting her cheek on his back.

There was silence.

Reunion is a wonderful thing, especially after emotional trauma, and both The Doctor and Clara had definitely gone through a lot of that recently. There had been the raven, for a start, which was bad enough until it got worse when The Doctor had his memory wiped of his impossible girl. After a lot of rigmarole, though, they were back together and on cloud nine.

The Doctor was on the verge of telling his companion something, something he had been meaning to tell her since the raven 'killed' her, but he was cut off before he could start by a ringing noise.

A call.

Releasing her grip, Clara let her Doctor answer the strange, unexpected call.

"Hello?"

"Doctor, is it?" The voice on the other end of the line asked.

"Um, yes? Who's asking?"

"It's me, Tobias!"

The Doctor was just about to reply with 'who?', but Clara chimed in with,

"Oh, hello, Toby! Haven't heard from you in a while! Something wrong?"

"Clara? Oh, I almost forgot about you!"

" _Charmed…_ "

"And, yes, there is something wrong," Toby said, his voice turning grave, " Something terribly, terribly, wrong…"

This conversation gave The Doctor enough time to remember who on earth this 'Toby' dude was. Realising this was an old friend who he met in his last regeneration, he smiled, but didn't let it show in his voice,

"What's the issue?" He asked.

"Our village, Mud, it's-"

"Being attacked by dragons again?" Clara interposed.

"Not dragons, something else, but I don't know what it is… the problem is very serious: our friends and family are all being malformed into strange creatures… they look like… birds…"

Clara swallowed, remembering the raven.

"We'll be right there," The Doctor nodded, solemnly, ending the call,

"I suppose we're heading over there, then…" he coughed.

Clara paused, swallowing and then smiling, softly,

"Just like old times, huh?"

The Doctor grinned,

"Just like old times, my impossible girl."


	2. Chapter 2 - Fumes

Chapter 2

"Can you smell something…odd?" Clara asked, sniffing the air a bit and scrunching up her nose in disgust.

"Yes…" The Doctor replied, "It smells like… rotten flesh. Must be something strange going on round here," he murmured, shutting the TARDIS door and following Clara toward the giant, shining dome situated over the village of Mud.

"Why is the force field up?" Clara asked, humming, "When Pride stayed to guard Mud, they took it down."

"Maybe it's shielding them from the attackers," The Doctor replied, trying to remember who 'Pride' was… ah, yes, Clara's 'pet' dragon.

"But Pride can ward them off, and Toby hasn't even _seen_ who the attackers _are._ Safety reasons, though, maybe you're right. Anyway, let's go and see what the townsfolk's problem is…"

It took the duo a while to reach Mud, but when they did, and they entered, they heard an old woman's voice calling Clara's name.

At first, Clara suspected that it was Verity, the innkeeper from their last visit, but when she caught sight of the owner of the voice, her face fell.

There was something definitely familiar about this woman… could it be..? It couldn't be…

"Jessica?" Clara exclaimed.

"Oh, it's been _ages_ since we last saw you, dear!" The lady (who was, indeed, Jessica: Tobias' wife) smiled, "How have you been keeping?"

"I've- I mean, we – have been very well, thank you…" Clara mumbled.

"Did you not bring along The Doctor?" Toby asked.

Clara bit her lip: last time she'd been here, it was with the 11th Doctor, complete with bow tie and fez.

"Ah," she laughed, nervously, "About that…"

The poor old couple were still in a state of mild shock: The Doctor had just explained the concept or regeneration to them, and it was a bit more than they could take in. Even with all the mayhem that'd been happening…

In a brief explanation (briefer than that of which The Doctor and Clara received, anyway) I will inform you of this much:

On one sunny Friday morning, three friends headed out of Mud to go for a walk. But when they returned, they reported strange smells in the air (the same smells that Clara had noticed, back in the TARDIS) and it was soon discovered that these smells were caused by very dangerous fumes.

The friends mentioned earier began to develop wings, but most others in Mud were fine, because the force-field was put up and the air was clensed.

Eventually, after the wings were fully grown, horns started appearing on the heads of those friends… then beaks… one night, after a week of this transfomation, the victims were turned into horned birds that walked on two legs like humans.

Then two more bird people appeared in the town and took them away under the cover of night. The victims were never seen again.

Now the two time travellers sat in Jessica and Tobias' kitchen, round an old tree-stump table, all in complete silence.

Nobody said a thing.

"…Wow…"

That was Clara, attempting to break the silence.

The Doctor decided not to leave her in another awkward silence, so he put an arm around her and added,

"What can we do to help?"

Tobias looked up at him,

"You'll think of something, won't you? No use asking _us_."

"Well, nobody here is really helping themselves. May I suggest something?" Clara asked, "If we were out in the fumes before, the process has already begun: we should be able to brave it again, right?"

"Your point?" The Doctor mused.

"The TARDIS," Clara replied, "We should be able to track down the fumes from there, shouldn't we? We'll be able to see where they're coming from."

The Doctor nodded, thoughtlfully,

"Good point, my dear," he smiled,

Clara's cheeks flushed as she shifted her gaze to stare out the window at the backs of the shops opposite.

But out of the blue, the ground began to tremor.

Clara straightened her back and stared across at Jessica in confustion, wondering if she was the only one who felt it.

But Jessica only smiled and said,

"I think Pride wants to see you…"

A happy, purr-like growl filled the air and Pride's face appeared at the window, looking in with his huge, yellow eyes.

Clara laughed, quietly, as the dragons face lit up at the sight of her.

"He'll be a teenager now, I suspect," The Doctor smiled to her, "Dragons like to about two hundred years old, so he should be turning the equivalent of sixteen."

"Two hundred, eh? That's rather old…" Tobias hummed.

Clara and The Doctor both laughed to themselves, because to them, 200 was only a drop in the ocean.

Jessica didn't say anything, just stood up to open the front door,

"Hello, Pride, would you like to say hello to your mother?" She smiled to the reptile outside.

Pride's head poked through the door and he turned to the side to catch the eye of the one who brought him back home when he was stuck here: the one and only Clara Oswald. He gave a happy dragon purr.

"Hello again, my old friend," Clara grinned, wandering over to him. She felt very important, knowing that this was essentially a pet dragon: only cool people have those.

Pride stuck his nose in Clara's stomach – where she was still sensitive where the raven had entered her – and she grimaced but then patted her dragon on the head, telling him that he had no manners when it came to social skills, and that he was just like The Doctor.

Pride gave an apologetic growl and hung his head.

"Yes, I should think you are sorry," Clara smirked before turning to Jess and explaining that she spoke dragon. This was not a lie by any means.

One of the best bits of travelling in the TARDIS was the telepathic circuit that let her speak any language in the universe, including baby speak (which both unnerved and fascinated her friends at the same time).

"Anyway," she coughed, "We really should be getting to the TARDIS. We won't be long, I promise you…"


	3. Chapter 3 - The Barrels of Guns

Chapter 3

"Pride, go away, I have work to do," Clara spat, shutting the TARDIS doors in the dragon's face and then hearing a soft whimper come from outside.

She whimpered, too.

"Don't make that sound, Oswald, you sound like a distressed puppy," The Doctor told her, not making eye contact.

"Puppies are cute," Clara rejoined with a smile, joining him at the console.

"I never said _you weren't_ ," The Doctor replied, putting his arm around Clara's waist and pushing a huge, silver button on the control panel that made a steady beep for about 30 seconds after and then made a little 'ding!'

The screen on the console showed what it had picked up in the fumes (all, of course, in Gallifreyan).

"Ah…" The Doctor sneered, "I know this place… I'd forgotten about it, but unfortunately not for long. It's called Zorad and it's home to the Zoranians. Nasty folk: always making war with one place or another. But it's not in the Milky Way: so this definitely isn't India…"

"And the Zoranians are raining down fumes onto this planet? Why?" Clara asked.

"Only one way to find out!" The Doctor grinned, pulling a lever and sending the TARDIS hurtling into space…

Before long, Clara Oswald was opening the doors of the time machine to see a large army base placed underneath them.

People who looked like huge birds with arms walked around all over the place, looking very determined to do… _something_.

Studying them, Clara noticed that they looked more like humans in rather good fancy dress.

They had wings on their backs instead of at their sides, and they had hands, too, which Clara thought odd, and at the back of their heads they had fiery orange feathers.

"This doesn't give us much of an answer," Clara said, turning back to the console, "We need to go down to them."

"That may not be the greatest idea, love, they _are_ in the middle of a war, after all. But I suppose it's the only way to find out their intentions…" and he flicked the anti-grav off.

The TARDIS fell to the ground, abruptly, and Clara peered out of the doors, dizzily.

"Actually, maybe this wasn't the best idea…" she swallowed, shakily, as her eyes were met with guns. Her immediate response to this was to slowly raise her hands above her head.

The Doctor joined her at the doors and did the same,

"Don't shoot!" he pleaded.

" _They're going to shoot whether you want them to or not,"_ Clara whispered to him from the side or her mouth.

The bird aliens pulled their triggers and The Doctor managed to close the door in time to save from being shot. The bullets ricocheted on the TARDIS doors.

"I see why you hate them so much," Clara said, awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck.

"It's not the people, it's the attitude," The Doctor mumbled, swivelling round to face the console again, a scowl on his face.

"Well, what now?" Clara asked with a heavy sigh, "We can't just snoop around their planet until they agree to tell us what they're doing: we don't know _anything_ , not even who they're fighting, so there's no way we can just amble along and flick off their 'fume machine': we need to know how it works first, and how on Earth do we do that without getting shot?"

"That was a long sentence," The Doctor replied, blankly.

"You don't know… do you?"

"Haven't a clue."

"Oh, come on, Doc!" Clara grinned, bounding over to him, "Come up with a plan! It's what you do best, isn't it? Oh, this is brilliant: just like old times! Not knowing what's going to happen and if you're going to live to tell the tale: I love it!" And she kissed him on the jaw.

The Doctor grinned back at her,

"Let's go then, impossible girl, adventure awaits!"

"Told you I wouldn't be long, didn't I?" Clara smiled, petting her dragon on the head, who was still moping.

She looked up to the sky to see dark clouds circling overhead. She took in a mouthful of fumes and then blew it back out again to see her breath… the air was cold.

She didn't really care about having wings: she'd always wanted them, they were cool, it was just the thought of being abducted by Zoranians that she wasn't too keen on.

She turned to The Doctor,

"We should be getting back," she said, "Before they inevitably start worrying about us."

"Ah, yes," The Doctor agreed, linking arms with her before following Pride back to Mud.

They gently pushed open the door to Jess and Toby's house and were immediately met with Jessica, holding a pile of knitted blankets.

"Doctor, Clara! Welcome back! Did you find out anything?"  
"A little," Clara replied, "And I almost got shot multiple times in the face…"

"You didn't 'nearly get shot', Clara," The Doctor corrected, "I wouldn't have let those ruffians get away with laying a finger on you, never mind shooting you."

"That's so sweet," Jessica smiled.

"We're just friends," The Doctor retorted, and Jess laughed in a manner that was unnecessarily sarcastic.

"Sorry to interrupt your obviously _hilarious_ conversation," Tobias put in, appearing before them like some sort of ninja pensioner, "But seeing as it's getting late, would you care to stay the night with us? It's been so lonely since Davie died."

(Davie was their old dog, who had long been dead.)

Clara was about to suggest that Pride keep them company, but then she realised that he couldn't fit through the door, so she replied with,

"We'd love to! Not that The Doctor actually sleeps, like: he'll just be sat there, thinking. It's actually rather unnerving. I could go on, but frankly, I don't have the time to waste."

"She means 'OK'," The Doctor teased her.

"Good," Jessica laughed, handing them a blanket each, "Make yourselves at home!"


	4. Chapter 4 - Wings

Chapter 4

"What do you think this is, then?" The Doctor asked, disapprovingly, holding up what looked like, to Clara, a white blur.

"She wasn't fully awake yet, still curled up on the floor of the back room of Jessica and Tobias' house, a blanket draped over her shivery form.

"She squinted at the blur and then blinked a few times to steady her vision before stating,

"What do you mean 'what is it'? It's clearly a feather," she replied, yawning.

"Precisely."

"And..?"

"What animals have feathers?"

"…Well… birds, obviously-"

"And what do Zoranians resemble?"

"Birds?"

"And what are they currently trying to do?"

"They're- … oh…"

"You get my point now?" The Doctor sighed, raising an eyebrow at Clara.

"Yeah…" Clara mumbled, "I did wonder why my back was throbbing so much…"

"No wonder," The Doctor mused, gesturing for her to turn around and sit up straight, "Your body is forming new bones that are pushing through your muscle and skin before growing new nerves, muscle, skin and feathers."

"Don't say it like _that_ …" Clara whimpered, sitting up.

The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder blade and rolled down the neck of her dress so he could see her back.

Clara flinched, baring her teeth and trying to think of rainbows and puppies to take her mind off the pain.

"Ah…" The Doctor mumbled, rather nervously, "Sorry about that… I dread to think how much that hurts…"

"Is it bad?"

"Well, there's… um… lots of blood… and flesh…"

Clara swallowed,

"I'm guessing that's hardly natural?"

"You're guessing right. Don't worry, though, once you get some covering on those bones, you should feel a lot better," The Doctor assured her, "Though we may need to cut some holes in your dress…"

Clara forced a smile,

"Just do it neatly."

A voice disturbed them at that very moment. It was Toby: he had just come home from going into town with Jessica for some food for breakfast.

"Any sign of wings?" Toby asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway.

Clara hid her face between her knees and gave a high-pitched whimper as The Doctor nodded at Toby.

"Ah well," Tobias muttered, "Maybe the things will come in handy one day, if you do end up stuck with them."

"I doubt I'll be able to fly with them," Clara sulked, her voice muffled, "Or if I do, it's going to take me a few hundred years."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Clara: maybe Pride can give you flight lessons…" The Doctor joked.

"Can we not talk about flying for a second here and focus on the objective of stopping these aliens that seem to be hell-bent on converting you all into them," Clara replied, lifting up her head.

"Of course," The Doctor nodded, standing up and then helping her to stand, too, "But first, I'm going to need some scissors…"

"That'll do," The Doctor sighed, brushing the cloth down.

"All done?" Clara asked./p

"Yep: done," The Doctor nodded, tossing the dress to her.

"Good, because I'm getting very cold behind this room partitioner…"

"I don't see how that's colder than the rest of the room…"

"Nearer the window."

"Whatever you say, just get dressed."

"Gladly!" Clara smiled. The dress seemed almost too nice to spoil, though she'd rather have a couple of holes in her best outfit than have to put up with bones pushing into… where they shouldn't push into.

The Doctor leaned on the doorframe and waited for her to dress while he gazed out onto the street outside. He could hear Jessica working away in the room behind them. She was sewing.

"Why don't you have any?" Came Clara's voice from behind him.

"Any what?" He replied.

"Wings," Clara coughed, stepping out from behind the room partitioner and wandering over to him.

"Time Lord immune system," The Doctor smiled, "It'll take a good week or so for it to kick in. I'm good for now."

"Be glad of that," Clara said, making sure her bones fit through the holes in the dress, "Will it emever/em stop hurting?"

"Of course," The Doctor assured her, "As soon as the skin heals up around the wound: it's just growing pains, you could say, so once they're fully formed, you'll be fine."/p

Clara looped her arms around him from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder, expecting him to push her away. But he didn't. The Doctor stroked her arm, gently, and they both stared outside into the bright sunlight before they heard footsteps coming and promptly let go of each other.

"Morning, Doctor!" Jessica smiled at him, "And good morning, Clara! How are you two?"

"Very good, thank you," The Doctor said, just as Clara replied with 'pained'.

Jessica held up something that looked, to Clara, like a cloak.

"I made you something," Jess beamed, "It's a cloak."

It certainly was. It was purple and velvet with a hood and a silk bow around it. It had no holes in the back, though, so Clara didn't know why Jess had made it at first, before she explained,

"Something to cover them: maybe the aliens won't notice you've begun the process."

"Good idea, Jessica!" Clara smiled, "Thank you very much!"

"A pleasure, now: haven't you got work to do?"

"We have, indeed," The Doctor nodded, stepping outside and taking the cloak, gently, before draping it around Clara.

"Use whatever you like from the town to assist you," Jess said.

"Thank you again," Clara smiled, following The Doctor into the morning sun, "And goodbye for now. I'll make you proud."

"The Doctor studied the screen on the TARDIS console before turning to Clara, who was leading Pride into the time machine.

"Try and keep your dragon under control, Clara," he smiled, "We don't want him knocking anything over, now."br /"Why do we need to bring him, anyway?" Clara whispered, patting Pride's head and closing the doors.

"You'll see…" The Doctor grinned before sending them flying through time and space…


	5. Chapter 5 - Into The Deadly Unknown

Chapter 5

Backup.

That's what The Doctor said they needed: backup.

"If we're going to reason with them, we'll need an extra plan," he had said. By 'them', he meant the Zoranians .

To Clara, reasoning with them seemed to be the stupidest idea she had ever heard in her entire life: last time she had seen the aliens, all she had gotten was guns shoved in her face, and she didn't fancy having that happen again.

She wasn't too keen on the idea of dying just after she had been brought back to life. Then Ashildr would be _really_ mad…

Clara thought of how Ashildr would start sending her letters and, after finding she wasn't replying, seek out The Doctor and let him have a piece of her mind. She sniggered a bit at this thought.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have given Ashildr her address and postcode, after all…

"Clara!"

Clara snapped back to reality to look across at The Doctor.

"You listening, Clara?" The Doctor asked, an eyebrow raised, suspiciously.

"Yes, Doctor… well, kind of…" Clara replied, sheepishly.

"You weren't, were you?"

"No…"

The Doctor sighed,

"I said, I've landed the TARDIS on Zorad. I want you and Pride to head out there and for you to see if you can find out what the aliens are planning."

"But I'll die! They all have guns!"

"Don't worry, I've taken that into consideration and parked in the middle of nowhere. It'll take a long time to get anywhere, but you'll be safe to wander a bit without anyone noticing you."

"Aren't you coming?"

"No, I have a plan for myself. A backup plan, remember?"

"Oh, yes… I remember. You don't need Pride, then?"  
"No, I'll be fine. _You_ need him to protect you more."

"Are you sure I'll be OK? I mean, Ashildr has a TARDIS now, she could just turn up at my house any time and if I answer the door missing an arm or something, she's going to find you and she's going to kill you."

"Of course it'll be OK! You have a dragon, for goodness sake! If any Zoranians try to harm you, Pride will have them for dinner, 'Oh, baked Zoranian: my favourite!'" The Doctor said in his best dragon voice.

Clara sniggered and then turned to Pride and smiled.

"But don't be careless," The Doctor warned, straightening her cloak and handing her a bandanna, "It's a desert out there and I don't want you catching silicosis or anything… No dragon can protect you from _that."_

Clara smiled at him and stood there in a slightly awkward silence,

"I've missed you," Clara said, at last.

"I've missed you, too," The Doctor replied, rubbing her shoulder and turning her around, "Now go get 'em."

When Clara stepped outside, she was met with a vast expanse of sandy ground, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Pride followed her out into the unknown and noticed feathers starting to appear on the skin of Clara's wings. He considered telling her, but decided it would be a nice surprise for her.

Clara blinked the sand out of her eyes and covered her mouth and nose with her bandana.

She shielded her eyes against the glaring sun and squinted to see if she could make out anything on the horizon.

Nothing.

She yawned. It must have been about 2:00 AM when she got to sleep last night, but she couldn't be sure, owing to the lack of a clock.

An acute pain shot through her back, suddenly.

She reached to rub her back and her fingers were met with silky soft feathers.

She smiled to herself and stroked down the feathers. She had always wanted wings (who wouldn't?) and now she was rather happy indeed to have them.

After a while, she decided that cuddling herself was a bit odd and also sad so she let go and tried to move her new limbs. She could, surprisingly. It was only surprising as they weren't naturally part of her anatomy.

"You're going to have to teach me to fly, Pride!" She smiled.

Pride took her by the collar of her cloak and started to lift her into the air, which was… worrying, to say the least… after all, Clara had to reason to trust the dragon, he _had_ tried to eat her once – and being flown into the air after suggesting flight lessons _was_ rather concerning…

The Doctor cautiously poured a drop of blue liquid into the vial…

This wasn't what he was _meant_ to be doing, but he had all the time in the world, and he suspected he would need an antidote to the fumes…

He had traced the fumes, inspected their properties and mixed up a cure of sorts.

He closed the lid of the bottle and gave it a little tip back and fourth to mix the contents.

Studying it through the glass, he thought about exactly when he should use it… he could track Clara down and give it to her at this very moment, or he could give it to her when he next saw her.

He decided to go with, the considerably easier, option 2.

Tasting the concoction, he wondered whether e should flavour it, as it tasted like corpses, but he decided that Clara wouldn't have a choice unless she wanted to die.

The potion would halt the process, but wouldn't reverse the effects, so if Clara was 100% Zoranian when he next saw her, it would be too late…

Having his friend stuck as a bird alien forever might be a bit awkward, but he didn't really mind what she looked like; not really.

Slipping the vial into his pocket, he headed to the console room.

His backup plan, he hoped, wouldn't need to be put into action. He wasn't really into this kind of plan, but sometimes needs must and you have to turn to your last resort…


	6. Chapter 6 - The Golden Palace

Chapter 6

Clara tried to take it in all at once… and failed.

She was falling, that was one thing she knew, thanks to that dumb dragon that didn't understand sarcasm, the dragon who was now flying down beside her and… mocking her, it seemed like.

"Not funny, Pride!" Clara yelled at the top of her voice, "What do I do, you insolent reptile?"

Pride gave a growl in reply.

"What do you mean 'flap them harder'? I'M FLAPPING AS HARD AS I CAN MANAGE!"

But she tried what he had said anyway and spread her wings as wide as they would go and flapped them slower and firmer… they seemed to act as fluffy parachutes and slowed her down a bit.

She tried twisting herself into a position where she was facing downwards and found that she was gliding…

It was a lovely sensation, she found: the air was warm but the breeze cooled her and blew her hair back out of her face. She gave a beat of her wings to keep her in the air longer and smiled at Pride as he flew beside her.

"OK… I forgive you!" She laughed, "This is amazing!"

Pride showed her the dragon equivalent of a smile and dived down to the ground.

Clara followed the manoeuvre of the dragon's wings and glided down beside him, almost dreading her landing. She braced herself and, as Pride landed swiftly back on solid ground, she half landed on her feet and stumbled forward until she inevitably fell down flat on her face.

She could hear Pride laughing at her as she picked herself up and brushed herself off.

"Thank you very much, Pride," Clara huffed, hiding a smile.

She gazed up into the distance and caught a glimpse of something on the horizon… a rather large and impressive-looking building. It looked like a palace to Clara. But did they have a monarchy on Zorad? Or was this just an average house..?

"Shall we head towards it?" Clara asked.

Pride either didn't hear her, or was very good at pretending he didn't hear her, as he didn't answer, but Clara headed toward the palace thing anyway and her dragon followed suit…

She didn't know quite what to expect when she reached the building… if it _was_ a royal house, maybe she'd have to talk to the _king_! She didn't know if she had enough courage to do that…

Then again, would the kind be in charge of the army? Maybe Zorad's law and rulership worked differently than Earth's.

This, to Clara, was a very interesting concept to ponder. She rather wanted to learn more about laws on other planets. It was safer than accidentally breaking a law that she didn't know existed and ending up in jail for it, anyhow.

She yawned and leaned on Pride for support as she started to drop off. It was getting cold and she supposed this was the end of another short Zorad day. Soon the stars would come out and there would be only the moon to light their path.

"We've got to hurry…" Clara said, eventually, "Before it gets dark…"

So they picked up their pace and made for the impressive palace…

The duo, the human girl and her dragon, we're almost at the castle, tired and worn out. The night chill was bitter and Clara shivered as a gust of wind blew past her legs.

"Almost there…" she murmured, squinting at the palace. Outside it, she could just about see two intimidating-looking sentries holding spears, guarding the large doors to the golden castle.

As Clara and Pride approached, the guards drew their spears across the doorway and shouted,

"Who goes?"

Clara cleared her throat and, in her deepest, most respectable voice, replied,

"We're here to speak with your ruler."

"Have you received an invitation?"

"Trust me," Clara smirked, pulling her bandana down from her mouth, "We don't _need_ an invitation."

The sentries marched Clara down an enormously long hall…

Pride had had to stay outside, for reasons imaginable.

The hall seemed to never end… it just went on and on, with doors leading off left and right every few steps. It was certainly a big palace and Clara had no clue how the servants remembered which door led to which room.

Eventually, though, they came to an abnormally large wooden double door that would have towered over even Pride if he had been there.

"This is the throne room," one of the guards declared, shoving Clara toward it and then brushing his hands off as if he had just touched a dead animal, "In you go, little Chimariton."

' _Chimariton?'_ Clara thought to herself, _'Is that some sort of Zoranian derogatory term for a woman?'_

She coughed, snapping back to reality,

"Thank you, guards," she chocked, trying to maintain the impression of importance that she seemed to have bequeathed upon the two poor guards.

She pushed open the doors (which were lighter than she had expected) as the sentries strolled away and she entered the room…

It seemed a bit like a tent, the throne room.

Blue and purple cloth hung about from the high ceiling and caught the light streaming in from the stained glass window above them. A table sat in the middle of the room with two strange seats curved around it that looked like mixes between park benches and sofas.

Two Zoranians (one wearing a crown on his head) sat on the seats and, when they heard the doors slam shut, turned sharply to Clara.

"I have a bone to pick with you…" she declared.


	7. Chapter 7 - Something You Don't have

Chapter 7

The Zoranians hadn't shifted their gaze from Clara since she had walked through the door, and now they were watching her as she sat down with them.

Her bandana still over her mouth, Clara made fleeting eye contact before clearing her throat. She didn't feel all too confident with two humanoid birds watching her.

"Why are you doing it?" She asked, expressionlessly.

"The Chimaritons were present and they seemed the best option," the King replied, angry that Clara had just stormed into his throne room.

Chimariton must be the name of the race that live on the planet below, Clara supposed.

"Pardon? For doing what?" She asked.

""We're in the middle of a war against the Kleslans of Klesla 7… and we are loosing…" the other Zoranian replied, "But we had a plan: we have a machine that rains down fumes that, if they enter your lungs, will turn you into one of us. We needed more soldiers and now we have more, we see no reason to stop."

 _'You'll have a reason to stop once you see my backup…'_ Clara thought, but only said,

"Why don't you take me to this machine? I'd like to see this in action…"

It turned out that the other Zoranian was an army general; the highest ranked one on Zorad, at that. He and the king had led Clara (and Pride) down to the army base where The Doctor had first landed the TARDIS.

There were soldiers everywhere, troops of them marching about the place, in and out of the base building and round the back of the machinery.

The general walked them around the back of the giant station to where there stood a great contraption that towered over even Pride. It was puffing out steam, clearly visible fumes. A tall fence was built around it and a huge dome over it.

It was then that Clara realised how close they were to the planet below, where the Chimaritons lived.

They didn't have a moon on that planet: they had Zorad.

No wonder the fumes were so effective, they were closer to the planet than Earth's moon is to Earth…

"You have to stop all this," Clara ordered, frowning, "You're destroying the lives of innocent people!"

"Who are you, little Chilima girl, to tell _us_ what to do? You are but an insignificant speck of dust in the universe, as many before you were, before they died at out hands. What do you think makes you so… special?" The general spat.

Chilima must be the name of the planet… nice to put a name to the place eventually, Clara thought. She drew in a deep breath and was about to reply when she was interrupted by her name being called.

She swivelled round to see who had called and set eyes on a brown Zoranian, a female one, and she looked distressed.

Many options were shooting through Clara's mind at that moment: could this be somebody she knew?

"Who are you," Clara asked with a snort.

"Do you not recognise my voice?" The Zoranian asked. Her voice sounded… old… and familiar.

"Not really, no."

"It's me."  
"You're not… helping."

"Jessica."

"Jessica?" Clara gasped, "How did-"

"It doesn't matter, just get out of here before they kill you!"

Jessica begged. Her hands were chained and linked to a heavy iron ball at her feet.

"They wouldn't _dare,_ " Clara scoffed, though she knew for a fact that they would.

"They destroy anybody who gets in their way! Just go!" Jess insisted before another armour-clad Zoranian led her away.

Slightly worried, but putting on a brave front, Clara turned to Pride and smiled,

"I don't think so, do you, Pride?" She hummed, before facing the King and the general, "Because _I,_ unlike 'many before me', have something. Something _they_ didn't have…"

At this, she glanced to the sky above her as if she was searching for something, then looked back down and smiled.

"And what might that be?" The King growled.

Clara smirked, pointing to the sky,

"Backup."

Flames.

Flames everywhere.

Just as planned, thankfully: the rest of the plan should work out, too, if this bit went well.

Or course it would, the plan only consisted of two parts:

Burn everything.

Go home and have a nice cup of tea.

Very British.

Well, I say 'burn everything', but the only thing that was meant to be burnt was the machinery, though every foolish Zoranian that got in the way was fried, too.

Dodging spurts of fire, Clara hurried along to where she saw one soldier take Jessica. She thought she might as well say goodbye…

"Jessica!" She called to the brown bird she saw in the distance, who turned round,

"Clara?"

"Look, I'm so sorry I can't help you, but I really have to go. Is there anything – anything at all – that you want me to say to Tobias or anyone else back home?" Clara asked. She felt like an awful person: if she had been quicker, Jess might not have been taken away… she still had no clue how Jess managed to be transformed in the first place, unless she went outside Mud for too long…

"Oh, believe me," Jessica smiled, wanly, "There's nothing I can say that he doesn't already know."

Clara smiled. She felt like she was obliged to hug Jessica right now, but she honestly didn't feel moved to.

"Anyway, are you sure your plan will work?" Jess asked.

"100%: they have guns, I have an army of 100 winged, fire-breathing reptiles on my side. The Doctor will make sure everything works out."

"Very well, then: you best be going, you have worlds to save!"

"Indeed I do. Ciao, Jessica. And I'm so, so sorry…"

Clara ran between showers of bullets to somewhere she thought she should be safe.

It seemed the Zoranians were all shooting specifically at her, not the dragons attacking their machinery. Clara guessed they supposed that if they got rid of _her,_ the dragons would retreat.

Through the rain of ammunition, Clara could just about see, in the distance, the TARDIS.

She bounded toward it to meet The Doctor, who embraced her in a hug.

The Doctor noted that her wings were fully grown now. He thought that they gave her an air of power and dignity and… well… beauty.

He kept these compliments in his head, however.

"You did great: I'm proud of you!" He smiled instead, rubbing Clara's back, tenderly, in gentle circles.

Clara said nothing, just smiled to herself and buried her face in The Doctor's shirt and gave a huff.

The Doctor dug about in his pocket for something… a vial, more specifically.

"Take it," he said, pushing it under Clara's chin, "It'll stop the process."

"Can I keep-"

"Yes, you can keep the wings."

Clara took the small bottle and quickly swallowed it, trying not to focus on the horrid taste of the concoction.

"Thanks, Doc…" she mumbled, handing him the empty vial, "It tasted like a corpse, but it'll work, right?"

"It will. Now, do you want to go and fetch Pride? Then we'll head back to the planet below."

"Sure thing, no worries. It's called Chilima, by the way, the Zoranians told me. See you in a bit."

And she hurried back out of the TARDIS and into the line of fire…


	8. Chapter 8 - Be Good

Chapter 8

Pride was hovering, mid-air, when he saw Clara hurrying toward him, beaconing him down to the ground.

He flew down to see to her and licked her face.

Wiping dragon drool off her cheek, Clara smiled, wanly,

"Having fun, Pride?" She asked.

Pride had earlier informed her that he was an 'orphan' dragon, and that that's why he felt so close to Jessica, Toby and, most of all, Clara herself. He had promised her that any person who hurts anybody on Chilima, he would have pleasure in destroying. And he was sticking to his word: he was currently burning the Zoranian who had previously been tormenting Jessica.

Jessica, who had unfortunately been killed in the line of fire.

"Do you want to go back home now?" Clara asked.

Pride sighed but nodded: better to be safe than sorry. It was probably best to let his old dragon friends get on with the work.

"Come on, then!" Clara smiled, turning round to go and find the TARDIS again.

But as they were walking, they heard a shout of 'FIRE!' and, sharply turning to the side, saw a line of 6 Zoranians, about 18 feet away, who all open fired at that very moment.

Pride pounced over Clara to try and protect her…

Bullets fired, ricocheting toward them…

"Pride?"

Pride gave a roar of pain as a bullet hit his side, then another in his leg.

"Pride? Are you OK? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you're not… let me go: I'll go find The Doctor, he can help you! Pride?"

The dragon picked her up in his mouth and carried her to a place behind the army base where the bullets couldn't hit them, and then he placed her, gently, on her feet.

"Pride, come on, pull yourself together! You're fine!"

Pride gave a soft groan and looked up at her with a weak smile on his face as he dropped to the floor.

'Go… without me,' his smile seemed to say.

"Pride, I can't go without you!"

The dragon roared a quiet roar, which Clara translated as 'you can! Now go!'

"No, I-"

Another roar.

Tears welled up in Clara's eyes, knowing what he had said to her. She didn't want to believe that it was all happening: Pride wasn't just a dragon, or a pet, or even a friend. He was like… a child to her.

"I'm not your mother, you stupid… stupid dragon…" Clara sobbed, choking back the tears.

The dragon she had saved from being stuck on Chilima forever, the dragon who had taught her to fly, the one who had cheered her up after a long day of toiling away, helping people… was dying… because of _her._ Because he sacrificed himself to save her, because he felt he _owed_ her.

Pride laid his head on the ground, a pool of crimson blood gathering at his side. He weakly lifted his gaze to look up at Clara: his foster mother, as it were, and he choked out one last sentence:

"Be good, mummy: I love you."


	9. Chapter 9 - I Would Like

Chapter 9

"Are you alright, Clara?"

"…"

"Clara? Talk to me, Clara!" The Doctor begged shaking her awake, "Hey? You OK?"

"Wha..?"

"I'm taking that as a 'no'," The Doctor sighed, draping a blanket over her weak form.

Clara had walked into the TARDIS, hadn't replied to The Doctor when he had asked her where Pride was and stumbled straight down the hall.

The Doctor had found her, later, curled up on her bed, a wet patch on her pillow that The Doctor hoped was just tears and not… bile… or anything.

"I'm fine," Clara choked eventually, opening her bloodshot eyes and sniffing as she laid a feeble hand on The Doctor's arm.

"I'm not sure you are…" The Doctor replied, stroking her hair.

Clara gave a shaky smile back.

"Where's Pride, anyway? I thought you were bringing him back to the TARDIS?" The Doctor asked, confused.

Clara whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut as salty tears welled up in them and trickled down her cheeks and into her mouth.

"Oh…" she heard The Doctor murmur as he realised what has happened, "Oh, OK..."

Clara took in a sharp gasp as she choked on her own breath.

"No, no, shh," she heard, and she felt two strangely gentle arms wrap around her, "Shh, it's OK…"

"It's all my fault!" Clara sobbed, clutching The Doctor's coat to her chest.

"No, of course it's not, you were nothing to do with it."

"But you weren't _there!_ "

"Clara, trust me: it's _never_ your fault when you say it is," The Doctor assured her. He felt her calm down a bit at this and he lifted her chin to look at her, "Look, we all loose people sometimes, but it's something you get used to after time, don't worry."

Clara sniffed and smiled at him, wanly,

"Can't wait 'till then…" she mumbled.

"You'd be like Ashildr then," The Doctor replied with a soft smile, "But you'd also have to be immortal."

"I'd like to be immortal," Clara said, "I could carry on travelling with you forever. Barring accidents, of course."

"You certainly could."

"But I suppose that's not possible."

"Well…" The Doctor hummed, cunningly, "If you _really_ wanted to… I _do_ have a few more repair patches.."

Clara blinked the tears out of her eyes. Was she hearing this right? No, she couldn't be… could she?

"You mean you'd..? And I'd..?" She stuttered.

"If you like."

"I would: I would like very much."

THE END 


End file.
